ICC Sydney Convention Centre has adopted VR marketing.

The International Convention Centre Sydney recently became the first venue of its kind in Australia to adopt virtual reality to help market itself to conference organizers, event planners, delegates and other travelers from around the world who are considering or planning a visit. The move highlights the growing interest in VR as a marketing tool for venues and others with destinations to promote.

ICC Sydney Convention Centre opened in 2016.

ICC Sydney’s VR video experience provides viewers with an immersive way of touring the facilities at the convention center, which opened in December 2016.

“Our VR experience provides viewers with a unique opportunity to witness the full scale and magnitude of ICC Sydney’s technologically advanced facilities, including its 35,000 square meters of exhibition space, flexible meeting spaces, the 2,000-capacity grand ballroom – the largest of its kind in Australia – and world-class theaters,” said Geoff Donaghy, CEO, ICC Sydney.

Donaghy said the benefits to ICC Sydney were evident. He said VR aligns with a creative marketing approach that “places an innovative lens over everything we do.” Venue operators developed a suite of creative tools before opening that included a custom magazine, interactive maps, animations and advance modeling and renderings. The venue secured 500 event bookings before opening.

“The VR experience brings ICC Sydney to life in new ways, right before people’s eyes, and will become an important point of reference during the planning stages of an event, while also creating a buzz and excitement for delegates pre-event,” he said. “It’s an impressive tool that we believe will help shape the future of events in Sydney.”

In addition to an intimate look at the ICC Sydney facilities, the VR content includes a chance to enjoy a 360-degree view of Sydney’s Darling Harbour, where the convention center is located, including a look at nearby landmarks Sydney Harbour Bridge and Bondi Beach.

Penny Lion, executive general manager of events at Tourism Australia, said the convention center’s adoption of VR is a fit with the venue’s design and operations.

“As Australia’s newest convention, exhibition and events precinct, ICC Sydney is at the forefront of design and technology innovation,” Lion said. “Utilizing this technology to showcase what the center can deliver for customers is in alignment with this culture of innovation. It’s also a great way to see ICC Sydney up close and to understand the venue in the context of its location.”

ICC Sydney and Tourism Australia worked together to develop the showcase video of the convention center’s setting as part of the VR content, highlighting Sydney as a leading event destination. Tourism Australia has produced its own VR/360 content for various Australian locales, and Lion said its effectiveness has been “stunning,” citing 10.5 million views on Facebook, YouTube and Australia.com.and a 64-percent rise in engagement on Australia.com.

Lion said the VR efforts represent Tourism Australia’s recognition of “the need for tourism bodies and other entities to find new, engaging and compelling ways to cut through the highly competitive and crowded marketplace.”

Tom Griffin, assistant professor in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and assistant director of the Hospitality and Tourism Research Institute at Ryerson University in Toronto, has researched with colleagues the use of VR in marketing for destinations. He called tourism “an intangible product for marketers” that makes it a challenge to provide potential customers a true sense of what their experience will be. While still falling short of real life, VR “helps convey a sense of what a place is like,” he said.

“Our studies have shown that students who watched a VR advertisement for South Africa felt more positive about the country as a destination compared with those who watched a 2D video or read the website,” Griffin said. “So even though they hadn’t been, they were creating word-of-mouth marketing about what the place is like to visit.”

Lion said VR has rich potential for venues such as ICC Sydney, in particular.

“VR allows customers to discover event spaces like never before,” Lion said. “Immersive and interactive, it provides the user with the next best thing to conducting a site inspection. Using VR in conjunction with personal interaction with venue representatives – for example at trade shows – is an effective tool to help bring to life what it’s like to be in those spaces and to have questions immediately answered.”

ICC Sydney Convention Centre.

Griffin agreed, saying, “For a convention center, I imagine there are many opportunities. I’m guessing that a primary target would be meeting planners and to give them an opportunity to see both the logistics of a center, but also to allow them to experience some of the elements that a center wants to show off – a view of the mountains, a ballroom set up in full decor, etc. VR is a great and convenient way to demonstrate that.”

Griffin said VR is becoming increasingly popular for marketers and its use will grow as VR headsets continue to become more accessible. As of now, VR is new enough that abundant questions surround the best ways of using the tool. He said he sees VR as more enduring than a fad, though its use will evolve as more adopt it.

“I think a lot of people don’t know how to best use it yet,” Griffin said. “It reminds me of when social media arrived on the scene some years ago, and companies and organizations just got on board with little strategy or understanding of how to use the technology and communications. Of course, now companies take social media very seriously and strategically. I see the same thing happening to some extent with VR.”

Lion said venue marketers considering VR should be sure to commit the necessary resources and identify appropriate partners to create a vivid experience for viewers.

“Work with experienced and highly capable production companies who understand not just the medium but the user experience that accompanies VR,” Lion said.

Donaghy said it took three months for the team creating ICC Sydney’s VR experience to film its multi-use spaces sufficiently. He said the venue’s team has worked diligently to use the tool.

“We have sent virtual reality headsets to over 250 of our global contacts and are utilizing it in all of our trade shows and road shows, as well,” Donaghy said. “So far, we are getting an amazing response, and it’s been credited as one of the most unique tools a venue is using to inform and stimulate clients, and is even inspiring them to use the technology themselves.”

For ICC Sydney’s full VR experience, viewers need to have access to a VR headset. They can download the ICC Sydney VR app from Apple or Android application stores. Without a VR headset, viewers can still see 36-degree images on the convention center’s website at www.iccsydney.com.au.

If you’re ignoring video as part of your digital marketing strategy, you
might be well behind the competition.

YouTube has become the second largest search engine online, and it is
crucial that you grab a share of that audience. Consumers are looking
towards video rather than text-driven blog posts to answer their questions
and entertain them.

It doesn’t take a massive effort to
get started on YouTube, and the payoff can be huge.

Just like ranking on the first page in Google’s search results, having a
popular YouTube video funnels potentially millions of people in your target
audience directly to your doorstep. Regardless of your organization, videos
are a must for more
connections and conversions.

Here are five takeaways that can help you stand out on the video platform:

1. Optimize your video titles.

Video titles are a crucial factor for determining the search results in
which you appear, along with whether viewers decide to click on your video.

For best results, pick one keyword for which you want to compete and
include it near the front of your title. Don’t stuff keywords or make it
too lengthy. Your title should be no longer than 10 words. Include a sense
of urgency (example: “how to do ____ today”). Be very clear what value your
video can provide.

2. Curate playlists.

User experience matters. One of the most effective things you can do to
increase YouTube views is have your viewers watch the videos you produce
back to back.

Playlists on your channel page can be a great way to do this. They can make
it easy for viewers to watch consecutive videos from related topics that
they are interested in and help you to organize your content.

3. Network with other channels.

YouTube’s “related channels” and “recommended channels” can be forgotten
features that brand managers don’t use to their advantage.

This is a mistake for a couple of reasons: For some, data suggests that
turning on the recommended channels features gives you a boost in YouTube’s
eyes because you are opening up to a better user experience, rather than
trying to horde viewers for yourself.

Similarly, recommended channels are your opportunity to give love to other
YouTube channels that you appreciate and think your audience would like.
This implies to YouTube’s search algorithm that you should be considered in
the same category as these recommended channels. It also presents an
opportunity for co-promotion between your channel and others online in your
space that can drive traffic back and forth.

4. Greet viewers with a trailer.

When viewers land on your YouTube channel, you have a chance to make a
great first impression, such as launching into your favorite video to show
off your skills.

Playing your strongest content is good, but a designated channel ‘trailer’
or welcome video that sells what your channel is all about can improve your
chances of the visitor hitting the “subscribe” button.

[RELATED:


Discover the digital strategies you need to break out of your silo
and succeed in today’s evolving marketing communications mashup.]

5. Use great YouTube channel art.

Strong, eye-catching channel art can be the difference between a viewer
investigating your channel vs. a competitor (especially when it comes to
video thumbnails).

An infographic from
Vlogging Guides
details how to use tactics that include eye-catching
YouTube channel art
to attract more viewers and optimize user experience:

Upload images to YouTube at the recommended sizes and spend time creating
your artwork, though it doesn’t need to be a masterpiece. Ask yourself: “If
I saw this banner, would I believe this channel is a credible source of
information?”

Matthew Royse is a digital marketing director of

Forsythe Technology.
A version of this article originally appeared on his blog,

Knowledge Enthusiast.

(Image via)

When I go to meet with people to market my services and business, many of them tend to think I have been in business for much longer than I have been when I tell them how old the business is. They are like, “but you are everywhere”, and I see your name and business all over the place. When they say this, I smile in inside. Some of them that are closer than others, I tell them, “it is my marketing”. Many people know about Elevato and they know about me, because of the marketing I have been doing.

Many are surprised that the business started just nine months ago. So today, I will like to share some of the marketing activities I have used to ensure my business has share of mind with my customers and potential customers. But, please note that you should evaluate your business and its peculiarity and pick and choose out of the options below in terms of relevance to your business.

Strategies to adopt:

Social Media
I wrote an article some months ago, titled, “Embrace Social Media, Or Die”, this statement becomes more pertinent every day. Many people scoff at the idea of social media. Some disdain the medium and I shake my head, because they are living in the past. Firstly, it is the cheapest means for getting your message across to your potential customers and the future.

Secondly, it is not going away. Thirdly, other forms of connecting with your market or potential customers will continue to diminish with the passage of time. Fourthly, everybody is on it and you cannot afford to be missing in action.

Start to post about your products and your services. Post anything that your audience will find relevant and be able to connect to you. Learn about your audience and your industry and communicate to them in the lingo that will connect but ensure that you uphold the values of your brand as you do this.

Video Tutorials
I started this process and have not been consistent, but it has been a lapse on my part, as it is a very powerful marketing tool to communicate with your audience. Creating video tutorials is one of the most effective ways to get word out on your services or products.

According to R.L. Adams, “YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world behind Google. Whenever someone wants to learn something visually, they head there. You’ve likely done it yourself countless times. So just ask yourself what you could teach in your business that would help consumers solve some pain point? What got you into business in the first place?”

Blogging
If you have not started blogging about your business, start now! You would be surprised that you can actually write. Again, I started blogging, when I conceived my business and wanted to share my knowledge and thoughts with my audience and customers and found out that I could actually string words together in an interesting way. So, in addition to sharing my knowledge and expertise with my audience, I got the pleasure of discovering that I actually enjoyed writing and could try to be good at it.

One way of doing this is to either use your own platform or use other people’s platforms, e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Quora, etc. These platforms have massive audiences, that you get immediate reach to your current and potential customers.

However, ensure that you blog effectively. Provide relevant and valuable content otherwise you also end up hurting yourself and brand if your content is thin.

Influencers
In order to get the word out to a wider audience larger than yours to boost your visibility on social media when you have not built up the critical mass on your own platforms, you can leverage influencers. Ensure you use the best fit influencer for your business. If you are in the consulting or accounting business world, the kind of influencer you will need, will be different from an influencer of an entertainer, because the audience that each influencer has relates to the interest they push.

Find the right influencer for your niche to ensure you are targeting the right audience to get the best results for the objective you want to achieve.

LinkedIn
This I am yet to try, but is on my marketing to do list. This is to use video and more visuals in my LinkedIn profile. I was talking to a very senior business executive today, who told me he saw the update to my profile on LinkedIn last week. He was pleased to tell me, “I go there but say nothing, I just look. In fact, my profile is about 20 years old”. In my mind, I was like “how smart can you be”.

Please update your profile regularly. My first job as Elevato was from my LinkedIn profile. I have had headhunters reaching out to me all the time because of my LinkedIn profile. Upload your video. We are advised to use video to introduce ourselves and our business. Those who have used it, say it makes your profile a lot more personal. We are told that when it is done right, it can be produce powerful and effective results.

If you have lots of connections on LinkedIn and you’re not really posting on there, start immediately. I post an article on LinkedIn, every week. You can reach a large audience, especially when your posts go viral. This is a great place to convey your entrepreneurial journey. Talk about your challenges and tell stories. The more effective your stories, the larger your potential reach when you go viral.

You can also reach out to other businesses and collaborate with like-minded entrepreneurs on LinkedIn. It’s a great go-to resource for all things business and too many people overlook this.
As you can see, marketing your business does not have to be so expensive. All it takes is some of your time and creativity, which we can all do. Get committed, take control and start marketing your business.

(MENAFN Editorial) Local Buzz Connect, a digital marketing agency based in Cincinnati, announced the Local Buzz Connection Booster Program, a professional video interview production and marketing service. The company works with professional video designers and editors to offer custom reputation videos for local businesses looking to improve their online reputation and attract more potential clients.

More information can be found at [http://localbuzzconnect.com](http://localbuzzconnect.com/).

As one of the fastest-growing digital industries, digital marketing has attracted serious investments from both business owners and digital marketers. Surveys show that more than 90% of all consumers have used at least one type of online resource before making a purchase, making it essential for local businesses to develop a visible and reputable online presence.

Video marketing is one of the most effective means of reputation building for local businesses. Studies show that video constantly outranks all other types of content in terms of engagement rates and consumer confidence, with more and more businesses using short videos as effective ways to promote their products and services.

Local Buzz Connect is a leading Cincinnati digital marketing agency specializing in custom video solutions for local businesses in all industries. The company has recently introduced the new Local Buzz Connection Booster program to help companies improve their reputation through professionally produced video interviews.

Working with expert video designers and producers, Local Buzz Connect creates custom clips featuring business owners or spokespersons responding to various questions of their choice. The videos can then be used to promote the local business on social media networks such as Facebook and YouTube, and they can also be easily integrated into any type of online domain from official websites to blogs and various others.

Local Buzz Connect helps clients by both producing interview videos and syndicating them across the internet through the companys large social media and marketing network.

Interested parties can find more information by visiting the above-mentioned website.
For more information, visit:

MENAFN1909201700703262ID1095878355

Games Inbox: Is this the best console generation ever?

The video games industry is so bad at keeping secrets that leaks are almost treated like a regular part of the marketing cycle. But the one for Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite did seem to do serious damage, in that there’s two very different criteria on which people judge these crossover fighters. One is, of course, the gameplay, but the other is whether the roster has a good mix of essential and unexpected characters. On that latter point Infinite is something close to a disaster, and yet in terms of how it plays it’s possibly the best the series has ever been.

The Vs. games have always been treated as a special event, like the interactive equivalent of a telethon – where it seems like almost any forgotten celebrity could be dragged up for a quick fan-serving cameo. But that happens disappointingly few times in Infinite, and that seems to be in large part because Marvel doesn’t want to promote any character that they don’t currently have the film rights to. Which not only means no X-Men or Fantastic Four characters, but also no weird C-listers that you wouldn’t have guessed at.

There are 30 characters available in the game at launch, 15 for each side. And of the 15 Marvel characters only Nova hasn’t appeared, or is planning to appear in, a recent movie or TV show. And he’s clearly only in it because he was in Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. But that’s the other problem: of the 30 characters only five have not been in one of the previous titles before. The new Marvel ones being Captain Marvel, Gamora, and Ultron, while for Capcom all you get is Jedah from Darkstalkers and Mega Man X.

The game’s story mode hints at several new DLC characters, including Black Panther and a character from Monster Hunter, but it’s a poor show all round and makes it very hard to refute accusations that Capcom has just copied and pasted characters over from the last game.

Especially when Infinite includes the likes of Spencer, from the failed 2009 reboot of Bionic Commando, when at the very least he should’ve been reskinned to look like the classic version of the character that people might actually care about. And for that matter, why is Chris Redfield still the piggy-eyed Hulk version from Resident Evil 5, instead of the redesign from the newer games?

It all smacks of laziness and/or a lack of budget, but we suspect that most of these roster decisions were taken by lawyers and marketing people. Because despite what the line-up suggests this is a game that’s been made with a lot of love.

As well as a bit of fun for veterans, the Marvel Vs. Capcom games have nominally been intended as an easy way into fighting games for those not used to the genre. But it’s not really until this entry that the series has taken that role seriously, and offered both proper training tools and more accessible gameplay mechanics.

Weirdly, the story mode does almost nothing to teach you the controls, but the training and mission modes are amongst the most comprehensive Capcom has ever offered (and yes, there’s an Arcade mode too). But the game also allows you to use an auto-combo by just jabbing the square button, or initiate an auto-special move by pressing just two buttons at once.

Some might complain that’s dumbing down, but clearly any experienced player will still have an enormous advantage; instead the simplified options give new players a chance to compete, or have fun in single-player right from the off.

The gameplay in Infinite is a huge amount of fun, but almost everything else surrounding the game is problematic, including the so-so visuals and uniformly dull backdrops. The latter are mostly mash-ups between two different worlds, such as Mega Man’s future metropolis and Thor’s Asgard, which is the premise for the two-hour long story mode. The plot for this is played entirely straight, which is just as weird and pointless as it seems. And not helped at all by the lack of any decent jokes or any sense of self-awareness.

In terms of presentation, Infinite lacks pizazz. There’s no cheeseball theme tune when you start it up, just drab menus. It feels like a game of two halves, and not in the sense that the title implies. The gameplay and move-set design is great, but the visuals and character choices are dull and predictable. We don’t think we’ve ever said this before but we’re genuinely looking forward to hearing about the DLC, in the hope that it can turn this into the title fight it deserves to be.

Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite

In Short: It plays as well as the series ever has, and is far more accessible than previous entries, but there’s infinite room for improvement in terms of the roster and presentation.

Pros: Fun, fast-paced fighting gameplay that’s accessible for newcomers and has plenty of depth for veterans. Very well designed move-sets. Good range of game modes and training options.

Cons: Uninspired line-up of characters is very disappointing. Bland visuals and a general lack of panache to the presentation.

Score: 8/10

Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, and PC
Price: £49.99
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 19th September 2017
Age Rating: 12

Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter

• by Erik Sass
   @eriksass1,

  11 hours ago

Geico earned the #10 spot on the leaderboard yesterday (9/17), thanks to a YouTube video posted on Friday (9/15), featuring Jonathan Brooks and actress/musician Junko Goda performing in an opera house.
Tracking 3.8M views between Friday and Sunday (9/17), the video ranks as the #1 video shared by the insurance giant within the last 30 days.

Blin.gy, the app that let users insert themselves into their favorite music videos, is shutting down. In a Medium post, co-founder and chief executive officer David Hyman wrote that the startup, which launched as Chosen three years ago and raised at least $10 million, decided to close up shop after a potential acquisition fell through.

Chosen started out as a talent competition app that eventually focused mostly on music. Though it had a marketing partnership with Ellen DeGeneres, who promoted the app on her show and also took an equity stake, Chosen struggled to compete with Musical.ly. Earlier this year, Chosen pivoted and renamed itself Blin.gy after figuring out how to create greenscreen effects without the need for a full studio, making it possible for smartphone users to insert themselves in front of live video backgrounds.

What set Blin.gy’s features apart from other background effects, like those in Apple’s Photo Booths, was that Blin.gy worked with non-stabilized, moving cameras. As TechCrunch’s earlier coverage explainedm “The team’s patent-pending algorithm (they wrote a white paper going into more detail) essentially combines old-school chroma keying with new technologies, like object class detection, edge detection, color manipulation and other computer vision technologies. In short, they dynamically prioritize and combine these different techniques depending on the environment in which the video is being recorded.”

The app, which Hyman, the former CEO of Beats Music, says acquired just over one million downloads, partnered with Musical.ly and raised additional funding from the startup’s existing investors, but struggled to get other venture capital firms on board. In the end, the startup decided to put itself up for sale. Hyman says Blin.gy reached the final stages of talks with an acquirer, but that deal failed to come to fruition.

Titled “My mobile AR startup died so yours doesn’t have to,” Hyman’s blog post contains lots of insight for other companies and is well worth a read.” TechCrunch has contacted the Blin.gy team to ask what they plan to do next.